Sri Lankan court sentences 15 men to life in prison for roles in deadly 2019 Easter bombings

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A Sri Lankan court convicted 15 men on Tuesday over their involvement in the 2019 Easter bombings that killed 267 people, and sentenced them each to at least 200 years in prison, meaning they will spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

The three-judge High Court panel also ordered the property of the defendants confiscated and any transfers invalidated under the country’s tough anti-terror law. The verdict was delivered amid tight security, with hundreds of police officers deployed around the courthouse, following a lengthy trial that spanned nearly five years.

The April 21 attacks targeted three churches and three hotels across the island nation during Easter services and celebrations. They also wounded 574 people. The bombings, which were inspired by the Islamic State group, were among the deadliest attacks in Sri Lanka’s history. They killed 42 foreigners and devastated communities across the country.

All the convicted men were from Sri Lanka’s minority Muslim community.

Authorities filed 23,270 charges in 2021 against 25 suspects accused of planning or inspiring the attacks. One of them died pending trial. The charges included murder, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and firearms and explosives offenses under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

None of those believed to have directly participated in the attacks are alive. Two Sri Lanka-based Islamic militant groups were accused of carrying out the bombings.

In the courtroom, the accused appeared relaxed, chatting and laughing with each other during breaks. They even asked for and were granted a prayer break during the lengthy reading of the judgment.

Nine defendants were freed after the court found that the charges against them were not proven.

Those freed tearfully hugged the rest as they were separated from the convicts who were later invited to argue for lenient sentences.

Seven defendants had no attorney representing them and spoke for themselves.

The first defendant, Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Naufer, who is an Islamic cleric, said he did not wish to make any request for religious reasons.

“According to Islam, no religious leader should plead with (secular) authorities over any matter. Therefore, I do not wish to state anything,” said Naufer. Prosecutors said he had used his teachings to radicalize the other defendants.

He was sentenced to 220 years in prison with hard labor.

In total, five defendants were sentenced to 200 years each, five to 220 years, four to 240 years each and one to 260 years, based on their involvement in conspiring and aiding the attacks.

“What I did or didn’t do only God and I know,” said Mohamed Ibrahim Saadiq Abdulla. “In the end all people will be resurrected and God will judge everyone," he said.

He was given 240 years in prison with hard labor.

A bombing that shook Sri Lanka, reviving memories of a decades-long conflict

In calculating the sentences, the court considered all seven blasts: three at churches, three at tourist hotels and one at a motel where an attacker killed himself and two others after aborting his plan to attack a fourth hotel.

Haripriya Jayasundara, who led the prosecution, called for longer prison terms, saying the defendants were part of a well-planned attack carried out with the intention of killing Christian worshippers and tourists, which was proven by a video recording left behind by one of the suicide bombers.

The video, recorded the day before the bombings, showed the attackers with their faces covered, armed with rifles and swords and pledging allegiance to the then Islamic State leader Abu Bakhr al-Baghdadi to make Sri Lanka an Islamic nation and wage war towards that end.

Jayasundara said Abdulla, the fourth defendant, had traveled to Turkey and crossed over to Syria and fought for the IS group.

Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church has claimed, without providing evidence, that those identified so far as perpetrators are not the masterminds behind the bombings, and that there was a bigger conspiracy behind the attacks.

A parliamentary committee found that police and intelligence officials failed to act on repeated intelligence warnings of the attacks.

In July, a former police chief and a former senior defense ministry official were also sentenced to death for failing to act promptly on foreign intelligence warnings of possible attacks.